Central sleep apnea ?

Is it possible to have central apnea occasionally ? I ask this because I have a few nights where I can't stay asleep even though I'm on CPAP and my smart card shows an AHI of 2. On these nights, I wake up every hour or so and that is it. As you can imagine, I'm a an exhausted zombie the next day. Then I go back to a normal pattern of sleeping well again. I've heard about central apnea and wondered if that is possibly what is kicking in on those bad nights ? Or is it insomnia...? Very confusing for me.
Any thoughts or opinions are welcome!

manthony,

Guess anything is possible (regarding centrals), but unless centrals showed up during your studies, they probably wouldn't be my first thought.

With an AHI of 2, that's twice an hour you're having events, so if even an occasional one woke you, that could account for at least some of your wakeups. Have you noted a few of your wakeup times then checked the data to see if it coincides with an event?

Are you on any meds that are known to interfere with sleep?

Do you have any limb movement problems that cause restless sleep?

Sorry I have no answers, just some things to consider as you sort through this. I know the frustration of waking frequently, but at least I know why (limb movements). Best wishes in attaining more sustained sleep.

Kathy

Hi manthony,

With apnea, almost anything is possible. My first sleep study resulted in a diagnosis of severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
My titration, a month later showed a few OSA, but severe Central Apnea.

I'd check with your Doctor. Good Luck.

Jan

Thanks for the comments & suggestions: no centrals showed up in my sleep study but that was 3 years ago also no limb movements showed up either. I wonder if this can change over time, especially as we get older. My doctor thinks its insomnia but I think he turns to insomnia when he's not sure what to do.

Up to 40% of healthy individuals may exhibit central apneas during sleep-wake transition. -- http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/304967-diagnosis

So for some people, if they wake up several times during the night, their numbers will reflect central apneas that occured because of that.

But as for getting to the bottom of what causes what for whom, even the doctors can't always figure it out, as I understand:

In some cases, it can be challanging to separate the phenomenon of central apneas leading to insomnia (recurrent arousals) from the converse: insomnia leading to central apneas (sleep transition type).-- http://books.google.com/books?id=-ZTfjy ... t&resnum=1

Will my smart card be able to track central apneas ? I have a Resmed machine Auto M series....

Kite wrote:Will my smart card be able to track central apneas ? I have a Resmed machine Auto M series....

I believe you likely have a Respironics machine, not a ResMed, if your picture is correct and you have an Auto M series.

Any apnea that occurs should be recognized as an apnea by any efficacy-data machine like yours. However, neither Respironics machines nor ResMed machines attempt to differentiate which apneas are central and which are obstructive. That's OK, though. Having a few centrals is generally considered no big deal in and of itself, as I understand it.

If your machine is effectively treating your obstructive apneas, you may want to change up your so-called "sleep hygiene" if you are still having serious sleep issues. And if you are new to using an auto machine, it can take some time before the changes in pressure stop waking you up. In fact, if you are a particularly light sleeper, you may find that running your machine at a single pressure instead of running it in a range of pressures may let you sleep better.

thanks for the comments -- yes, it's a Respironics machine. I've been on it for 3 years now. I have used a single pressure before but I switched to the range because of too much gas in the stomach. I was on a fixed settings of 11 and then 9 but the stomach gas was creating more arousals. Now I have a range of 7 to 11. Yes, you're right I am a light sleeper.